This new work by fan favorite Don Reed chronicles his adventurous travails and perseverance through life and the Hollywood gauntlet to late night television.
Due to popular demand, The Never Too Late Show starring Don Reed, an inspirational comic tale about never giving up, has been extended by The Marsh Berkeley. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this new work by fan favorite Don Reed chronicles his adventurous travails and perseverance through life and the Hollywood gauntlet to late night television.
A story of laughter, deceit, and ultimately vindication, this multi-media presentation features classic video footage from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, HBO, The National Comedy Center, drone shots from David Levine, images from FilmMagic/Jeff Kravitz, and much more.
Currently running through February 19, The Never Too Late Show starring Don Reed will return for an extension run February 25 - March 26, 2023, with performances 8:30pm Saturdays and 7:00pm Sundays at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. For tickets $25-$35 sliding scale, $55 and $100 reserved) or more information, the public may visit themarsh.org.
NPR Award-Winning Storyteller Don Reed was a 2018 nominee for the Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Outstanding Solo Production, as well as the 2016 TBA winner and the 2017 TBA nominee for the same award. The playwright/performer/director is also a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominee and NAACP triple nominee for Best Actor and Best Playwright. His past works at The Marsh include East 14th, The Kipling Hotel, Can You Dig It?, That Don Reed Show, and Going Out. Reed can be seen in the Amazon Prime series Bartlett, where Reed plays the boss in a struggling ad agency alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton creator and star). He has worked in various roles in front of and behind the camera for Warner Bros, Disney+, Marvel, Pixar, The CW, Sony, Lionsgate, and more. Reed has also performed, written, and directed for film, television, and theater. As a producer, Don has co-produced noted director/writer Robert Townsend's (Hollywood Shuffle, The 5 Heartbeats, Eddie Murphy's Raw, The Last OG) one-man show Living the Shuffle for The Marsh. Years ago, his memorable performance on Robert Townsend's HBO Partners in Crime special of up-and-coming comedians led to many recurring and guest starring roles. Reed's voice can be heard on Spiderman, Johnny Quest, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, Captain Planet, The Voice, Law & Order, SNL, and as the voice of the cat on 2 Broke Girls. Additionally, he has written, directed, produced, and starred in the HBO shorts: Lucky: The Irish Pimp and Pookie Watson: Hood Detective. Reed has also created content for Oprah Winfrey's OWN and can be seen in the Netflix feature film Unleashed alongside stars from Showtime's Shameless. Reed shared an excerpt story from the aforementioned East 14th on NPR/WYNC's Snap Judgment that was so compelling that it was woven into the graduate writing curriculum at American University in Washington, D.C. Recently, Reed became a contributing special assignment writer for the San Francisco Examiner and has partnered with Virtual Bodyworks, a leading virtual reality entity making huge strides in the world of workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion. Charitable work includes MISSEY, providing supportive services to youth who are victimized by or vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation; Elevate Oakland, keeping music and the arts alive in Oakland Public Schools; and Mercy Housing California (MHC), a leading affordable housing organization working to eliminate homelessness and housing insecurity for low-income families, seniors, individuals, and people with disabilities.
Declared by Showtime as "one of the five funniest people in America," Pat Hazell's 30 years of experience as a writer, producer, and director have made him a go-to-guy for new American theater. Recognized for his genuinely funny Americana humor and salute to nostalgia, Hazell is an original writer for NBC's Seinfeld, a Tonight Show veteran, a critically acclaimed playwright, and a contributing commentator to National Public Radio. He is also the host of the weekly podcast Creativity in Captivity, available on all platforms. As a playwright, Hazell's first endeavor, Bunk Bed Brothers, was optioned by Columbia Pictures before gaining the attention of the TV industry to later be filmed as the sitcom American Pie (for NBC). His signature work The Wonder Bread Years was a grand salute to the baby-boomer generation. It aired on PBS, where they referred to Hazell as "America's Foremost Pop Culture Anthropologist." As the Chief Creative Officer of Sweetwood Creative, he is responsible for the creation of eight original productions: Pat Hazell's Permanent Record, The Wonder Bread Years, The Good Humor Men, Bunk Bed Brothers, My Funny Valentine, My Life in 3D, A Kodachrome Christmas, and Grounded For Life: The Musical.
The Marsh is known as "a breeding ground for new performance." It was launched in 1989 by Founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, and pre-COVID hosted more than 600 performances of 175 shows across the company's two venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. A leading outlet for solo performers, The Marsh's specialty has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "solo performances that celebrate the power of storytelling at its simplest and purest." The East Bay Times named The Marsh one of Bay Area's best intimate theaters, calling it "one of the most thriving solo theaters in the nation. The live theatrical energy is simply irresistible." Since its launch in April 2020, the theatre's digital platform MarshStream has garnered more than 100,000 viewers. Notable MarshStream moments include the debut of MarshStream International Solo Fest 1 and 2, The Marsh's first-ever digital festivals, and the U.S. premiere of The Invisible Line, a new documentary about one of the world's most famous social experiments gone wrong. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic MarshStream has hosted over 700 LIVE streams, providing some 300 performers a platform to continue developing and producing art. The Marsh will continue to offer digital content on MarshStream, as well as in- person performances.
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